Home?

Over the past few months, we have been in a constant state of transit.  It feels so nice to have finally unpacked our suitcases, stocked “our” kitchen, and generally set up camp here in Maseru for a couple months.  If you are like many of the friends and family I’ve spoken with over the past months, you probably have had a difficult time keeping up with where in the world we are.  Trust me, I’ve had a hard time keeping up with it all and it’s my life.  So, let me recap….

Got a few of my quilts unpacked to make our room feel a bit more homey

We departed SC on January 7 for Peachtree City, GA to check out at AIM USA headquarters.  On January 10, we flew to Nairobi where we spent four nights trying to get over jet-lag.  On January 15, we left for ABO in Machakos, Kenya, where we stayed for nearly three weeks.  When we left ABO, we went back to Nairobi to fly to Lesotho.  February 5^th we arrived in Lesotho and immediately went to Bloemfontien, South Africa to get in with a doctor for Ellee’s birth.  Then three days later we left for our almost three week village stay in Quthing.  On February 28^th we were picked up and taken to Maphutseng, Lesotho where we spent the past two and a half weeks next door to our unit leaders learning the ins and outs of living here. While there, we also completed working through our language learning/theory video requirements.  Then we left Maphutseng last Monday to attend our Lesotho team retreat at Malealea Lodge in Lesotho.  On Thursday we were transported here to Maseru.

Are you tired yet?  I certainly am.  While I enjoy traveling and seeing new things, I find it difficult to live out of a suitcase for an extended period of time.  I also find it difficult to keep up with 9 suitcases, 6 carry-ons, 2 car seats, a pack & play and a stroller for this long.  Believe me when I say I am happy to have those things tucked away in the spare room and plan only to worry about them again once we start packing up to move to Mokhotlong later this year.

The place we are living in now belongs to AIM and is used for the various needs of our Lesotho team.  It is a town house in Maseru which was previously lived in by the Lesotho Unit Leader.  It is completely stocked with the necessities for life so it makes things fairly simple for us right now.  Since we don’t have much more than clothes in those suitcases, we have a lot of house ware to build up before we are set on our own.  Currently we own no furniture and my kitchenware consists of a spatula, muffin tin, blender, toaster and a few knives.  Oh, and a potato masher since I married a man who could basically subsist off of spuds.

Retro kitchen

This weekend are going to drive up to Mokhotlong with our Unit Leaders.  The main reason we are going is to visit the house left behind by the family who recently had to leave Lesotho due to a death in the family.  They have quite a few furniture items they are looking to sell, so we are going to see all those things.  Also we want to see Mokhotlong itself before we move out there permanently in August.  Apparently there are a few leads on possible housing for us to rent and we may get the chance to see those places while we are there this weekend.  It promises to be a long 8 hours of extremely mountainous roads.  I expect Kyle to get very weary of all the twists and turns and I’m hoping he won’t get car sick.  I’m hoping I won’t get car sick either.  But, if we don’t go out there now, we won’t get the chance again to go as a family before we move permanently.

Speaking of a car, we thought we had one.  Then we found out the night before Jonathan was supposed to go pick it up in South Africa that the dealer decided to sell it to someone else before our money transfer came through the bank.  To say that we were frustrated would be a major understatement.  Nevertheless, we trust that God’s plans are better than ours and we are still waiting to find the right vehicle.  Until then, we are borrowing a truck from another AIM missionary here who recently purchased a new vehicle.  Jonathan is doing just fine driving on the other side of the road although I think he is thankful I can sit in the front seat and help him navigate traffic and round-abouts.  He probably wouldn’t admit it, but I feel pretty confident I’m helping a lot.  :o)  Once he gets good and comfortable in that vehicle, we will go out somewhere far, far way from other cars so he can teach me how to drive a manual transmission.  I’ve only done it once and that was six years ago.

Yesterday morning Jonathan met with the Theological Education by Extension guys he will be working with over the next few years.  I was busy doing things around the house but I gathered that he was very pleased with the set up and really looks forward to working with Ntate Joseph and the other men working with him.  It was a blessing to hear that they have been praying for us and excited about meeting us.  I really think this program will be a great fit for Jonathan as he loves studying and teaching so much.  He has joined the TEE committee now and will meet again with these guys next week to go about learning the program during our time here in Maseru.  Once we move out to Mokhotlong, Jonathan will be in close contact with Ntate Joseph who works with TEE here in the city.

Kyle's bedroom.  Notice all the little animals on the twin bed beside his, they are all on their backs asleep, too.  His idea.  I plan to work on getting him to sleep in a real bed sometime over the next two months so we can use the pack & play for Ellee.

While Jonathan was meeting with the TEE guys, I was discussing house keeping with the woman who typically cleans here at the town house.  I’ve never had anyone coming to help me clean before, but doing all our laundry by hand bent over a bathtub is becoming extremely difficult with the mass in my belly.  Carrying a vacuum up and down the stairs also isn’t something I fancy doing in a “normal” condition, much less while pregnant.  So, I’ve asked her to come one day a week to do the laundry and clean the floors.  She is a nice lady who washes clothes by hand 10X better than I do.  I’m paying her slightly more than is typical here and it is still less than going to the laundry mat back in the US.  I greatly appreciate her help and I know I will even more once I have an itty bitty one to worry about in a couple months.

My plans to walk to the post office this morning have been trumped by the constant pitter patter I hear on the tin roof.  I am expecting a couple packages from back home and I am giddy to see if they have arrived.  But, unless it quits raining, I’ll probably be sitting inside stitching baby girl onesies instead.  Not a bad trade.  Pictures to follow!

~Abby